The Trouble With Archaeologists
by BlameItOnTheNaquadah
Summary: ..is that they often don't realise that treasure isn't always found in ancient ruins or buried underground. Until their friends' decide to help, of course. A loose follow on from Up All Night, but you don't need to have read that first. Daniel and Vala continue to make a right mess of the pathway to true love. Bless 'em.
1. Prologue

**Prologue.**

Daniel finished talking. General Landry and the rest of SG-1 all sat around the table in the conference room looking back up at him. Nobody spoke.

"Soooo…." he said, expectantly.

'Er…" Mitchell frowned slightly. "you're sure that this temple place is going to be worth it?" His gaze was drawn again to the last slide which Dr Jackson had left up on the screen.

"Definitely!" the archaeologist nodded excitedly. "SG – 4's report was very positive – several large statues inside and three walls covered in well preserved hieroglyphs. They thought that it looked like Asgard writings, but couldn't be sure."

"Asgard, hmm?" Landry still didn't look convinced.

"I suppose, sir," broke in Colonel Carter, "that if it is Asgard then it may well be useful to check it out. I mean, anything that can help us use the Odyssey to the best of it's ability can only be good."

Vala groaned when she mentioned the Odyssey. Even Teal'c quirked his lips down in a grimace.

"That flying piece of junk," grumbled the space pirate, laying her head on her arms. Landry looked askance at her but let it go.

"It's just…" Mitchell couldn't pull his eyes away from the screen. He gesticulated vaguely in the area of the enhanced photograph which was displayed there. "It's just…kind of…"

"Soggy?" finished Vala, glumly.

They all looked back at Daniel, who smiled tentatively.

"I'm positive it'll be worth it," he said encouragingly. He looked over his shoulder at the last picture – of an impressive looking pyramid/temple, made of attractive chocolate brown brickwork, beautifully preserved, with neat, grassy borders outside. Several friendly looking natives of the planet stood smiling on the edge of the photograph. Everything about it looked lovely. Everything - except the fact that it was in the middle of a large muddy bog, on a small squelchy planet. The cheery looking folk on the screen were swathed in what looked like leather sou'westers, large ponchos and galoshes. The puddles around their feet were the size of small swimming pools. The sky above them was a leaden grey colour and the rain coming down was so heavy that the camera had been able to capture the individual drops.

Daniel looked back at his team. Mitchell and Sam both had resigned looks on their faces. Vala's head was still on the table. She caught his eye, stuck out her tongue and looked the other way. Teal'c was impassive. He was remembering several trips up to Jack O'Neill's cabin for supposed fishing trips, when the only bites that he'd had had come from large and vicious mosquitoes. This planet made the weather at the General's place look positively pleasant. The Jaffa sighed inwardly. He looked up at Daniel, standing so hopefully at the front of the room.

"It'll be fun!" said archaeologist. Teal'c inclined his head.

"Indeed."


	2. Chapter 1 Let It Rain

**Chapter One. Let It Rain.**

PX3-something something something was re-christened 'Monsoon World' by Colonel Mitchell, pretty soon after SG-1's arrival.

I can do rain, he thought to himself, standing just inside the entrance to the pyramid on the second evening after their arrival, but this isn't rain. This is the gods up in the sky throwing down giant buckets of water on to us mortals underneath. Don't they ever get summer here? Or perhaps this _was_ summer – it may have been chucking it down from the heavens but nobody could describe the weather as being cold.

He looked up glumly at the darkening skies – once night came it would be difficult to squelch their way along the boggy path back to the small town close by. Sighing he turned and went back into the temple. Daniel was sitting on a chest scribbling away in one of his notebooks. Sam and Vala were leaning up against the walls making rubbings of the hieroglyphics. Teal'c was slowly turning in a circle, holding a small video camera, taking film of the inside of the large, dark room.

"Hey guys," said Cam, picking up a small stone device with a bright blue stone at it's centre and fiddling with it. "Night's not far off – we'd better start packing our kit up to go back to the village."

"Thank goodness!" said Vala loudly, throwing her pencil onto the sand and dropping the rubbing she was halfway through beside it.

"Seriously!" Daniel frowned up at her. "You could have just finished the one that you were doing. Sam is, look."

Carter grinned over her shoulder at them, looking smug, and scribbling away at her work. Vala rolled her eyes, picked up her pencil and paper and went back to the wall, poking the colonel with her finger as she went past. Five minutes later both girls had finished, Teal'c was packing the camera away and Daniel – Daniel was still sitting in the same place, scribbling in his notebook.

"C'mon, Jackson," Mitchell nudged the archaeologist gently with his foot. "You don't want to be stuck in here at night – the bogey man'll getcha!"

"Oh, who's he?" asked Vala interestedly.

"No-one, he's made up," scowled Daniel.

"Shame," the alien twirled a strand of her ponytail around in her fingers. "He sounds a lot more interesting than some of the people around here."

Dr Jackson glared up at her. She beamed that false I-don't-care-if-you-are-offended grin down at him.

"Go back to the village Vala," he grumbled.

"We're ALL trying to go back to the village," growled Mitchell. "C'mon Jackson – now that's an order!"

"Alright, alright!" Daniel, realising that the colonel meant it, started packing away his books and scribbles. Teal'c had already heaved his backpack on, he turned to pick up his staff weapon.

"I shall return to the town with your permission ColonelMitchell, and inform the inhabitants of your imminent arrival."

"I'll come with you Teal'c," said Samantha, picking her own pack up. "That guy in the reading room on the square – he had a couple of books on crystals he was going to look out for me. Might be interesting reading."

They bid good-bye to the other three and moved off, through the now much darker forest. Vala, who hadn't managed to get her jacket, hat and rucksack on in time to accompany Sam, sat down and sulked. Cam threw her the little stone device he'd been playing with.

"Oh!" she said, as she caught it deftly. "This is from home! I mean the SGC. It's from your office, isn't it, Daniel?"

"Uh-huh," he looked up briefly from where he was sorting bits of stonework into different pouches. "I'm not sure what it is – I keep carrying it around in the hope that I'll see another one, or a picture of it somewhere."

"I told you what it is," stated Vala firmly.

"No you didn't," replied the doctor.

"Yes, I did," answered Vala, still firmly. "I said to you – this is Gou'ald. I've seen one before. I can't remember what it does. I don't think I ever – I mean – Quetesh ever …"

She stumbled on the words for a moment. Daniel leant over and squeezed her hand. She gave him a wobbly smile.

"I mean," the alien carried on, "_she_ never owned one. I think. But I've seen them. Not often. Maybe just the once actually. But definitely. Could have been Athena's. She liked to steal other peoples' treasure."

"Vala!" Daniel stopped her by lifting his hand. "That is NOT telling me what it is. It's just you telling me that you can't remember what it is."

"Well, it's nearly the same thing," said the woman, with the kind of logic that only an ex-space-pirate could use.

"Home," Mitchell repeated for about the third time. "Before it's so dark that…"

"Oh yes, the bogey man!" Vala jumped to her feet, clapping her hands. In doing so she knocked flying a whole pile of papers which were neatly stacked. They whizzed across the floor of the temple in quite a spectacular flurry until the first half dozen or so hit the soggy mud at the entrance and sank into it, ruined.

"Vala!" yelled Daniel. He was furious. "It's just taken me half the afternoon to decode some of that!"

"Sorry," she said penitently, hands up to mouth and looking contrite. "Really I am."

The doctor snatched up the useless, rapidly-blurring writings and rubbings which had been on the paper.

"Half a day's work, ruined! Why can't you be more careful? Why have you always got to act like a wild thing?"

"I don't!" shouted his team mate, waving the stone gadget that she was still holding in his face and looking very much like the aforementioned wild thing. "And it's your fault that we're still here anyway! Mitchell told us to pack up ages ago! If you'd put your stuff away when you were meant to, we wouldn't still be here now and I wouldn't have ruined your oh-so-precious boring scribblings!"

"Stop it!" Mitchell pulled her away from the archaeologist who had shot to his own feet.

"It's always your damn fault Vala!" he shouted, unfairly. "You break everything you put your hands on."

"I do not!" her face was furious, cheeks bright pink. "That's a lie! I don't often break stuff at all. It's your fault that I broke your thing on the sandstorm planet – you were being mean to me! Again!"

Daniel was livid, and it made him feel wicked and spiteful. He didn't care that everyone had spent all afternoon working for him, there in the temple. He didn't care that they were all about to spend a second night in Monsoon City, so that he could carry on studying the temple tomorrow. All he cared about, in that one moment, was that Vala had over-reacted again, and spoilt something which belonged to him, again.

"You know, you go on and on about what a terrible life you've had, and how awful it was being host to Quetesh, but you know what? I think you blame her for the fact that you're in such a mess, when really it's all down to you and your own selfish stupidity!"

As soon as he'd spoken he regretted it. Vala's face was like stone. She opened her mouth to try and speak, but no sound came out. She didn't move for a minute, then just turned away and picked up her pack, cheeks flaming suddenly.

"Princess…" Cameron broke the awful silence. She shook her head at him and moved quickly to the doorway.

"Vala," Daniel's voice broke slightly. He tried to catch her hand but she snatched it away and broke into a run, towards the muddy path which led back to the little town.

The two men who she left behind stood, neither moving. Cam's hands were in fists at his sides. Eventually, he was the first to speak.

"Jackson?" he said, in a quiet but deadly voice. Daniel looked across at him.

"Yes?" he whispered.

"Get out of my sight."


	3. Chapter 2 The Loyalty of a Friend

**Chapter Two. The Loyalty of a Friend.**

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**Just a quick little note to say thanks for all of the positive feedback, you lovely reviewers, all of you! Glad that you're enjoying this new piece of nonsense!**

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Vala skidded and slipped all the way back to the little forest town. She fell right over at one point and landed hard on her right hand, twisting the muscles in her wrist. It was only then that she realised she was still holding the stupid little stone artefact. She thought briefly about tossing it, instead she just struggled to her feet again and ran on.

She didn't stop when she entered the little town – just carried on running straight across the main square and out of the other side. Sam, just about to enter the small library, saw her go, luckily. Dropping her rucksack, she immediately high-tailed it after the woman.

"Back in a minute," she called to Teal'c and the kindly librarian. For a moment Carter had thought that her friend was heading for the Stargate, she soon realised that although this may have been the other woman's first intention she seemed to have changed her mind. Sam watched from the shadows as Vala slowed, stopped then turned back on herself. She walked again towards the square, and the small house that SG-1 were staying in.

Something was terribly wrong though, thought the blonde colonel. Her friend was filthy dirty, covered in mud, with her head bowed low. What on earth could have gone wrong in such a short space of time, since she and Teal'c had left? For go wrong it definitely had – and she was pretty sure now that Vala had originally been heading for the Stargate. She quietly followed her, right back to their apartment and watched her trail sadly inside. Quickly, Carter ran back to Teal'c and the librarian.

"Something's come up," she told them. The Jaffa raised an eyebrow. She shrugged. "Could you just find the books for me please, Teal'c?"

He bowed.

"Of course, ColonelCarter." He looked quizzically at her, still.

"Later." She shrugged again. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

* * *

Vala was sat on the floor next to her bed when Samantha knocked gently on the door and came slowly into the room. The only light was from the oil-filled lamps which hung on the outside of the building. The alien didn't move, just sat completely still, holding her right wrist and looking straight ahead.

"Hey," the colonel crouched down next to her friend, putting her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "What's up? Are you okay?"

Slowly, Vala shook her head, but all she did was hold out her right arm. She swallowed convulsively.

"It hurts," she whispered. Sam pushed the sleeve back to reveal a red, swollen wrist.

"Holy Hannah!" said Carter, fiercely. "When did you do that?"

"Fell." The alien was still holding the little stone artefact – Sam took it from her and put it on top of her rucksack.

"Fell where?" The colonel stood, and poured cold water from a pitcher into it's accompanying bowl. She took a flannel and started bathing Vala's sprained wrist with the cold water. The other woman winced. "Fell where?" repeated Sam.

"Running on the path." She paused. "Samantha – am I – am I selfish and stupid?"

The ex-pirate had an odd little catch in her voice. Carter sat very still. She paused in treating her friend's sprain.

"Why do you ask that?" she said quietly.

"Do you think that I blame Quetesh for the fact that I'm such a failure?" Vala countered her with another question. Sam watched her carefully. The alien's face looked like it was frozen – no expression on it whatsoever. The colonel was becoming seriously concerned. She laid her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I don't know who's been saying things like this to you, but it's lies, Vala. You are the bravest, kindest most loyal woman that I know. Sometimes you act a little crazy, but heck! We all know that it's part of you, and we love you for it. And anyone who can fly the Prometheus single-handed is far from being stupid. I bet you could even fly the Odyssey by yourself if you tried!"

A very, very tiny smile pulled at Vala's lips.

"What about Quetesh?"

"What about her?" Sam resumed treating the sprained wrist. "If you do blame her sometimes for how certain parts of your life turned out, BEFORE you joined the SGC, then I don't think any of us can fault you for that. The thing is, you got on top of it, you turned your back on that way of thinking – you proved again and again to Landry and SG-1 that the main strengths of your character are nothing to do with her. Vala – you are fine the way you are. You are a credit to yourself – only yourself. I'm so very proud to call you my friend and colleague."

That was the final straw. The sad little alien put her head on to her knees, brought her arm up to cover her face and sobbed. Sam wrapped her arms around her friend, as best she could, and laid her head against Vala's. Eventually the deluge stopped and tissues were handed over, and eyes and faces mopped, and wrist bathing resumed.

"Thank you Samantha," whispered Vala with a small smile.

"Any time, bestie," said Sam.

They heard the sound of the door opening downstairs and Mitchell's voice grunting something.

"Please Samantha," Vala looked tearful again. "Please don't let him up here."

"Who?" Carter looked perplexed. "Mitchell?"

Her friend shook her head.

"No." She shook her head and took Sam's hand with her non-injured one. "It was Daniel. Daniel said those horrible things to me."

Colonel Carter's answer was brief and explicit. Even Vala hadn't heard some of the words before!

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**Thank you for reading - will try and get next chapter up tomorrow. Bear with me, it's pantomime season here in England, and the one that I'm involved in opens tonight! So, very busy for next couple of weeks. :-)**


	4. Chapter 3 In Disgrace

**Firstly, thank you for all the reviews, chaps! Really chuffed that you're all sticking with it. Can I apologise if anyone got a PM from LeprechaunicDolphin instead of me? Only my daughter was logged in to Fanfic, and I think I may have answered with her name! If it's even possible to do that! Anyway, onward!**

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**Chapter Three. In Disgrace.**

Daniel was in disgrace, and boy did he feel that he'd earned it! As soon as those awful words had come out of his mouth he'd regretted it. All he could see when he shut his eyes was the look on Vala's face before she'd turned and run away from him. Inwardly he was beating himself up for his own short-tempered, wilful, hateful stupidity. And they'd been getting on so well lately. Ever since she'd overcome her sleep problems, they'd both felt a real enjoyment working with each other. He actually looked forward to seeing her at the briefing every morning, and having her sit in his office with him, tinkering and fiddling and helping him file bits and pieces away.

You're the selfish and stupid one, he told himself. You're the bullying spiteful one who always wants everyone to play your games. They're only here because they all want to help you and your ridiculous digging about in the mud!

Mitchell had picked his rucksack up, immediately after Vala had run off – without another word he'd turned away and headed up the path back to the town, not caring if the archaeologist was following him or not. Wisely, Daniel had stayed slightly behind his team leader and not tried to interact with him at all. Once they'd entered their small abode it was obvious that Vala had arrived before them and that Sam knew at least part of the story – pausing halfway down the stairs she'd taken one look at Daniel, called him a selfish person who's mother had not been married to his father (in as many words) and returned to the upper floor. Vala hadn't come down at all.

Mitchell had grunted something at him before following Carter upstairs – he'd only been gone a few minutes before he came back down and went outside again. Teal'c came back in his absence, carrying several books - he looked quizzically at his friend, then also went upstairs. When he came down his face was very grave and he looked sadly at Daniel. The archaeologist felt his face redden.

"I'm so sorry, Teal'c," he told him, with his hands out to his sides.

"I can see that you truly are, DanielJackson," the Jaffa acknowledged. "However, ValaMalDoran does not know this and is too upset to see you at the moment. And ColonelCarter is using words that I have not heard her use before and am unsure of the correct meaning."

"I don't think that you want to know," said Daniel hastily. He sat down heavily and sighed. Teal'c raised his eyebrow but wisely didn't comment. At that moment Mitchell came back in, holding a small vial with some kind of ointment inside. He glared at Jackson and went straight upstairs.

"ValaMalDoran has sprained her wrist," explained Teal'c. "She fell on the path coming back into town. ColonelCarter is bathing and dressing it for her. I believe that ColonelMitchell went out to procure some kind of soothing ointment."

"Like I needed to feel any worse," muttered Daniel under his breath.

"Shut up Jackson," snapped Cameron, coming into the room behind him. The archaeologist very wisely shut up.

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Sam gave Vala some painkilling tablets before they went to sleep that night, consequently she slept a lot better than expected. She didn't wake at all until just before sunrise – their room was filled with a soft grey light and she could hear the gentle and continual pattering of ever-present raindrops on the roof. She lay quietly, with her sore arm across her chest, feeling comfortable but still rather sad.

People are like doughnuts, she thought to herself, you think that everything's alright on the outside, but when you look in the middle they're all soft and gooey.

She smiled a little. Samantha murmured and stirred in her sleep.

Last night, the girls had both stayed upstairs. It had taken a while to try and clean all the mud off of herself and her fatigues – Landry would have had a fit if he'd seen her. Even then, they'd had to hang it in front of the small fireplace, in the hope that it would dry out before morning and they could brush more of the damp dirt off of it. Her hair had been matted with mud too from where she'd fallen down on the path – trying to wash the mass of long, black wavy tresses with a fairly small jug and even smaller bowl had almost brought Sam to the edge of sanity. Consequently there was a large soggy patch on the floor now too. This really _is_ the wettest planet that I've ever been to, thought the alien.

Cameron had come upstairs with the ointment for her wrist, then not long after both he and Teal'c had come back with a lovely little meal that one of the townspeople had prepared for them – soup and meat and some nice little fruit pies. Daniel had stayed downstairs. She didn't know if he'd had anything to eat or not. She'd been afraid that he'd come upstairs afterwards but wisely he hadn't.

Vala sighed. She'd begun to think that he liked her, he'd certainly seemed to be growing fond of her. And they'd been getting on so well too, working peacefully together in his office and pottering about with the cataloguing of all his bits and pieces. She rubbed her eyes with her good hand. He must not like me at all, she thought sadly. And I do love him so.

There! She'd admitted it to herself at last. She'd loved him since she first time that she clapped eyes on him aboard the Prometheus. She'd thought first of all it was just lust and passion that made her heart leap in that odd way when she looked at him, then she thought that it was just because he was such a good friend who'd saved her from the Ori and come looking for her after she'd lost her memory. But eventually she realised it was something much deeper than that – she felt strange when they were together. Strange, but completely at ease – she didn't know how to explain it, even to herself. She'd thought that her heart had broken when Cam had dragged her back through the Stargate, and they'd left Daniel with Adria. And when he came back as the Prior she'd spent hours just sitting on his knee with her head tucked under his chin. All she wanted was to be next to him always. I'd throw myself in front of a staff weapon for him, she thought. He was so dear to her, it made her heart swell in her chest, as if it was going to explode right out of it. She'd never felt like this before, about anyone. It frightened her, how strongly she felt. And now, she'd have to carry on hiding it.

Perhaps I'll have to leave the SGC Vala thought, sadly. Perhaps he'll never forgive me and we can never be friends again.

The pillow was getting damp from some unscheduled tears that had slipped down her cheeks. She turned over in bed, careful of her sore arm. Perhaps they'd have me in Atlantis. Rodney McKay popped into her mind. She giggled unexpectedly. It would be worth going just to torment him. Perhaps she'd ask for a transfer there.

She yawned, and wriggled, and before she knew it had dropped back to sleep again. When she awoke, the sun had risen properly, and Samantha was dressed and the smell of breakfast was wafting up from downstairs.

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**There we are then. Hope that you all continue to enjoy this story! Lots of fun still to come! :-)**


	5. Chapter 4 A Journey is Planned

**Thank you, dear chaps who are sticking with this story and reviewing it. I really appreciate it! :-)**

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**Chapter Four. An Unexpected Journey is Planned.**

Vala was sat at the table downstairs, with her wrist and hand all bandaged up, when Daniel and Teal'c came back into the house the following lunch time. Her green fatigues looked remarkably good, considering what had happened to them the evening before, with only two or three large, damp splodges to hint at anything untoward having happened. She looked away as the two men entered, twirling the end of one of her hair bunches between the fingers on her good hand.

Daniel thought that his heart was going to break, looking at her sitting there. How could he ever have called her stupid and selfish? She had her moments of being an annoying, aggravating, pain in the back-side, but then so did Mitchell! Even Sam, when she launched into her techno-babble. As for himself – well he was fast beginning to believe that it was _he_ who was the most stupid and selfish person on the planet. On any planet. In any galaxy. He sighed. Vala peeped across at him, but looked away quickly when she saw him glance at her. He wanted to say something before it all got worse, irredeemably worse - before there was no way at all to drag back the friendship and tentative, gentle feelings that the two of them had for each other. He was thinking about saying something when Mitchell came down from upstairs with Vala's rucksack.

"Okay Princess," said SG-1's leader. "You ready?"

She nodded.

"Teal'c?"

"I am ready, ColonelMitchell," the Jaffa replied.

"We'll meet you back at the SGC in three days, okay?" Cameron handed Teal'c Vala's luggage. He looked over his shoulder at Daniel. "That okay with you Jackson? Give you long enough to finish what you're doing?"

"Sure, sure, of course." The archaeologist wasn't going to rock the boat on this one. "Three days'll be fine. Absolutely. We can always come back if we find anything really special."

"_You_ can come back," replied Mitchell. "I'm sure not coming back to Monsoon World any time soon."

He slapped Teal'c firmly on the shoulder as he escorted the pair towards the door.

"Dr Lam will sort you out," he told Vala, giving her a brief, one armed hug. She nodded. Daniel couldn't take his eyes from her – she peeped across at him again – he wanted to speak, to say something, _do_ something but instead just stood there, feeling stupid and awkward. She turned without a word and followed Teal'c from the house. Dr Jackson watched the pair of them from the window until they disappeared from view among the trees on the path out of town. He hung his head, hands in pockets. There was silence for a few seconds, until Mitchell spoke quietly.

"Jackson?"

"Yeah?" Daniel sighed.

"You know how she feels about you, right?"

Pause.

"I think so."

"You feel the same?"

Pause.

"I think so."

Cameron sighed.

"Then for the love of my Grandma, do something about it!"

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Teal'c and Vala arrived back through the Stargate with no problems, the latter being immediately whisked away to the infirmary by Dr Lam, who discovered after X-raying the patient's right wrist that she had quite a nasty little fracture hidden underneath the sprain. A visit to the operating theatre under general anaesthetic ensued, and after some deft tweaking and pulling Carolyn managed to set it nicely, topping it off with a bright pink splint. So it was a rather sore and groggy Vala who woke up that evening to find General Jack O'Neill sitting next to her bed, flicking through a copy of 'Hello' magazine.

"Hi," he said, tossing the journal aside. "How ya doin'?"

She bit her lip.

"Um….rubbish, I think." She went to rub her eyes, before realising that she was attached to some kind of IV tubing. "My arm hurts."

She tried to do her window-washer wave but grimaced.

"I like the pink though," she said, brightening a little.

Jack was leaning on the bed with his chin on his hand.

"Aww, I broke my wrist heaps of times," he told her. "Happens to the best of us."

"Are you meant to be here?" queried Vala. "Wouldn't we be still here if you were meant to be here? I mean, not just me obviously, rather all of SG-1. I mean, we wouldn't have been off-world if you were coming. Because of you and Sam, you know."

Jack's eyes narrowed.

"No, I don't know." He leant back in his chair. "No idea what you mean, Ms Mal Doran."

"Oooops." Vala looked penitent. "I forgot we're not meant to know. About you and Samantha. In flammably. Or in fettucine. Or something like that."

"I think you mean 'in flagrante'" grinned Jack. He took pity on the tired-looking alien in the bed. "Carter tell you?"

"A little bit." Vala yawned. "But I won't tell, really I won't."

"Sure." O'Neill wasn't sure that the last statement was true but what the heck. The main reason that he'd gone to Washington was so that he and Carter could finally admit to their feelings for each other, and really he didn't give a damn who knew about it. "Anyway, back on target here, woman! A friend of mine happened to speak to me earlier, told me that you were feeling a bit down, and I thought to myself, 'hey Jack, you've got a few free days coming up, how's about entertaining that wacky little alien they've got hidden away at the SGC?'"

"What friend?" Vala looked puzzled. Jack rubbed the back of his neck and had the decency to look a little embarrassed.

"Well, it was Carter actually,' he admitted. "I came for a meeting with Hank just after you and Teal'c showed up. Landry wanted a wormhole through to Mitchell to check on what was going down on – what does he call that place?"

"Monsoon World."

"Yeah, Monsoon World. Well, Carter got to the radio before he did, filled me in on you and the good Doctor's shenanigans, and here I am."

Vala's face had dropped when the General spoke about Daniel. She looked away.

"Hey," said Jack, softly. "I'm not here to bust your ass! Heck, I'm no good at this sort of stuff. What I wanna say is – how do ya fancy coming with me to London?"

Vala's mouth dropped open. Her eyes were like saucers.

"I gotta go and talk to their Cabinet about the Stargate programme – just a basic overview – a 'show and tell' kind of thing. The British have been onboard for a while but this is the first real chance we've had to get some proper talking going down with them. And I thought – who better to take with me than one of my favourite alien's, who's guaranteed to make the party go with a bang?!"

Carter owed him for this big time, he thought. Big time. The blonde colonel could twist him around her little finger when she was halfway across the galaxy, for crying out loud. Besides, he supposed it would be kind of fun – throwing Vala into a room full of politicians and seeing what happened.

The woman herself was looking puzzled. Excited – but puzzled.

"Why do you have to talk to a cabinet?"she asked him. "Is it some weird Tau'ri invention like a sandwich toaster?"

Jack let out a shout of laughter. Yep, Vala plus politicians would equal some fun.

"No – it's just a name for government heads of departments. And it's only for a day or two. We can have a couple of days sightseeing afterwards. Whadya say?"

"Yes please!" Vala tried to clap her hands, forgetting about the splint, and screwed her face up in pain. She was feeling tired again, and her head was beginning to ache.

"I'll pick you up the day after tomorrow then." Jack stood up as Dr Lam came marching up the ward. "Watch out for the big bright transport beam!"

She nodded, but as he walked away up the ward a small voice followed him.

"Jack?"

"Uh huh?"

"Where's London?"

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**More soon!**


	6. Chapter 5 The General and the Alien

**Thank you, oh lovely ones, for all of the reviews! There were a couple I was unable to reply to, so I'm saying thanks to you chaps now! Hope that your're all still enjoying this fun - are you ready for the trip to London?!**

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**Chapter Five. The General and the Alien.**

Teal'c returned to Monsoon World early the next morning, and the rest of SG-1's time on the planet passed quietly, if not amicably. Sam was still furious with Daniel over what he had said to Vala – she answered him if he spoke to her but otherwise the air around her fairly crackled with animosity. Jackson didn't try and talk her round – he knew that he deserved it. To be honest, it was all coming back to bite him in the rear end anyway – without Vala they were one man down with all of the sorting and rubbing and digging that he wanted to get done in their remaining three days. The likelihood of finishing even two thirds of it now wasn't looking good.

Mitchell appeared to have forgiven him – the colonel fiddled and lifted and scrubbed about inside the pyramid but was rather subdued, and not displaying his usual buoyant personality. All of them were rather subdued, and Daniel knew that it was because of the absence of the flighty, flirty, fun-loving Ms Mal Doran.

He sighed deeply, took off his glasses and pinched the top of his nose. Sam looked up briefly, smiled wryly, and went back to what she was doing. The course of true love never did run smooth, she thought to herself, but really – these two were making a total pig's ear of it! Almost as bad as Jack and me, she grinned. She thought of her General, running amok in London with her best friend and couldn't hold back a snort of laughter.

"You okay?" asked Daniel quietly. She paused, then put down the little trowel she was working with. She stood up and unexpectedly came to put her arms around her friend in a hug. Surprised, he hugged her back.

"Daniel, you're such an idiot." she told him.

"I know," he sighed. "And I don't know what to do about it. I can't see a way to make it better."

The colonel looked into the archaeologist's clear, blue eyes.

"She'll forgive you, you know she will. Just give her a few days." She squeezed the tops of his arms gently. "But you need to earn it, Daniel. You need to earn her forgiveness this time. She's worth it – heck, you both are."

"I know. Thanks Sam." He put his glasses back on and smiled faintly. "You know, I'm rubbish at this sort of thing. With Sha're it was all different – she was given to me as a present, we fell in love and that was it. No ties, no emotional baggage, it was so simple. Vala's so different! I can't tell sometimes whether I'm on foot or horseback! She makes me so – so….." he paused "I don't know…so – alive."

That was it. Vala made him feel alive again. It had been so many years since he'd felt anything for a woman, and Ms Mal Doran had come quite literally kicking and screaming into his life and nothing but _nothing_ had been the same since. He'd tried to pretend that he wasn't feeling anything and he'd tried to push her away again and again, but nothing had worked. He'd been an idiot. A stupid, blind, self-centred idiot.

"Sam," he said, " let's get this done ASAP and go home."

She nodded.

But of course, when they did take all of their equipment and recent finds back through the Stargate, the archaeologist discovered that he was a day or so late and Vala was gone to England with General O'Neill.

"Back in a few days," Landry had told him, wisely forgetting to mention that Sam was the chief instigator in the plan.

So Daniel had to wait.

* * *

Vala was having a ball over in London. The General couldn't believe that a person could actually talk as incessantly as she seemed able to, or drop as many faux pas but what the heck! She had the British politicians eating out of her hand. Her impromptu lecture on how to fly a Tel'tak had ended up with her actually sitting on the Prime Minister's knee.

The British loved Vala and she was having a whale of a time – the whole damn trip was made bearable because she was there too. Heck, if Jack had known she was this much fun he'd have started taking her to his meetings years ago. He was genuinely pleased that Carter had managed to cajole him into taking the alien with him on his trip. Pleased – but he was still going to make the beautiful blonde colonel pay for it when he got his hands on her. Preferably when they were alone up at his cabin.

The talks took two days, and afterwards Jack took Vala to see Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, where the alien spent far too long eyeing the Crown Jewels for his liking. Before she could cause an international incident he whisked her off to St Paul's where he reluctantly allowed her to climb to the top of the dome without him. His knees really _wouldn't_ take that kind of treatment these days. Vala obviously behaved herself though, for she returned after a while without having caused any apparent damage to the ancient building. That evening they went to the theatre to see Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap" where the alien sat mesmerised throughout the entire performance and Jack fell asleep. The following day they went to Madame Tussaud's wax works where they took all sorts of silly photographs, then on to the Ritz hotel for afternoon tea before they walked across Green Park and St James's Park, crossing the Thames to ride the London Eye.

The sun was setting as they neared the top of the huge wheel – a beautiful, blue twilight was spreading out below them and lights were beginning to twinkle and sparkle across the city.

Impulsively, Vala put her arms around Jack and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Jack," she whispered, her voice suddenly choked. He briefly squeezed her back.

"You're welcome," he murmured. He cocked his head to look down at her – taking his thumb he gently wiped away the tear which had slipped down her cheek. "C'mon – let's you get back to that damn archaeologist and knock some sense into him."

"Okay." Vala gave him a watery grin. "But I get to bash him first!"

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**Thanks for reading! More soon!**


	7. Chapter 6 More Precious Than Naquadah

**This chapter is for luvfarscape - get well soon x x**

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**Chapter Six. More Precious than Naquadah.**

Daniel was walking past Sam's office the next morning when he heard guffaws of laughter emanating from the room. When he backtracked and looked in he saw Teal'c and the female colonel both studying her computer screen intently, their faces wreathed in huge grins.

"What's up?" he asked, wandering inside.

"Look at this!" Sam snorted again and moved aside. Jack had sent her a set of photographs via her email. Vala kissing a Beefeater at the Tower of London, Vala hugging a policeman outside the Tower of London. Jack in the stocks, Vala and Jack and the policeman in the stocks. Vala standing on the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace, posing like she was one of Charlie's Angels. Jack with his hands in his pockets and his shades on in front of St Paul's cathedral. The two of them eating a cream tea somewhere – the alien had a cake in each hand and a lot of cream on her face – this was the photo that the two friends' had been laughing at.

The general and his sidekick holding up personalised Coke bottles on the South Bank – her's said "Princess", his said "Homer".

The last couple of pictures were on the London Eye – there was the official shot – "I'd love to see how she managed to get Jack to pay for that!" snorted Samantha – and then one of O'Neill alone and one of Vala.

Daniel thought his heart was going to leap out of his chest. She looked perfectly beautiful – the camera had caught her with that soft, shy little smile she showed sometimes when she wasn't trying to work some con on him. Her hair was loose, lying in waves on her shoulders, with that little sparkly clip which she loved so much tucked in above her ear. The lights of the city were soft-focused behind her, mingled with the gentle blue of the oncoming twilight. He loved her. He knew it now without a doubt. He unquestionably and categorically loved her.

He realised that he was just standing staring at the screen when Sam shoulder-nudged him and nodded to Teal'c. The Jaffa raised his eyebrow.

"Is something wrong, DanielJackson?" queried the warrior.

"Er – no, no – of course not," the archaeologist hoped that his friends' didn't notice the blush creeping up his neck. He backed away. "Um – see you guys later?"

He left quickly, but slowed to a dawdle in the corridor, just one image playing about in his mind – Vala on the London Eye. He stopped. He paused. What the heck.

Daniel turned around and marched into Carter's office before he could change his mind.

"Er, Sam?" he cleared his throat. "Would you mind sharing that last photo with me by email? If that's okay?"

He was sure that by now his face was glowing as red as a traffic light. The colonel didn't appear to notice however.

"Sure, I'll do it now." She turned to her keyboard and started typing.

"Thanks, and,- er – see you later. Again." He almost ran from the office. Behind him Sam grinned up at Teal'c and the pair high-fived each other.

"He appears to have caught something bad, ColonelCarter," said the Jaffa, smiling.

"Got it bad, Teal'c," his friend chuckled. "He's got it bad!"

* * *

Vala came bursting back into the SGC three days later, loaded down with goodies for everyone. There was a little bear ornament dressed like a Guardsman for General Landry, and a red telephone moneybox for Cameron. Teal'c had a toy double decker Routemaster bus and for Sam there was a red, white and blue cuddly bunny with a Union flag on his midriff.

"I have one of those too!" the alien proclaimed excitedly, waving her own little stuffed friend in the air.

"I swear, Carter," Jack leant in very close to his beloved and whispered in her ear, "if that woman has put me into debt on my credit card you will have some serious apologising to do."

Sam grinned up at him and squeezed his hand when nobody was looking.

"I look forward to it," she whispered back, wickedly.

The general gave her one of his looks. For crying out loud, but that woman could make him feel like a teenager again. He cased the room swiftly – still no-one glancing in their direction. Before Sam realised what was happening he'd slipped his arm around the her back and kissed her hotly, deeply and very hurriedly before anybody else noticed.

"Take that for starters," he told the blushing Carter.

Vala was still in full rant in the centre of the room.

"And I bought us some biscuits, and some whisky, and some chocolate – and they had something called 'rock' too, which isn't rock at all, but sweets. It's made of sugar, and it's nearly as hard as rock, and it rots your teeth, the man in the shop said. But I think that he was joking." She waved a large stick of bright pink rock, beaming. "And we had such a wonderful time, really we did, didn't we Jack? And we went to the theatre, and saw this play which has been running for years and years and _years_! And they say at the end, don't tell anyone who did it, because it's a mystery, so you're not supposed to say, because it would spoil it for other people. Who the murderer was, I mean."

"So, who did it?" asked Mitchell, nonchalantly.

"The policeman," shrugged Vala, grinning.

"Sixty years," sighed Landry to Daniel. "Sixty years 'The Mousetrap's' been running for and that woman could probably bring it down in a day."

Dr Jackson smiled faintly. He had spent the entire time watching Vala from where he leant against the door frame. She'd flicked her eyes across at him once but that was it. And hey look! No present for the archaeologist it seemed.

The team started moving apart – heading off to put their presents away and to meet again down in the cafeteria. Vala moved her right arm up against her chest and rubbed the bright pink cast. Her wrist was hurting. She tried to open the pocket on her handbag to retrieve some painkillers but dropped it instead. She pouted.

"Here," said Daniel softly, lifting it for her. She didn't look at him but kept her eyes lowered, long, dark lashes spread like little fans.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"You want some water?" he asked, turning away towards the sink.

"Yes please." Vala waited for the cup, took a few swallows and knocked back the tablets with one large swig. Daniel smiled, and at last! A little smile in return.

"I have something for you too," she said. "But it's a bit silly. I mean dumb, maybe. They say 'daft' in London. It's a bit daft. I don't think you'll like it. I mean it's…"

"I'll love it." He broke in on her nervous chatter. "If it's from you, I'll love it."

Vala looked at him, surprised. When she spoke she sounded more like her usual self.

"Are you feeling well, Daniel?"

He grinned. "Yep."

"Well…" she rummaged in her handbag and brought out a small gift wrapped in white tissue paper. "It's just a little – oh, it's too silly…"

He took it from her and pulled off the wrappings quickly. Inside was a silver keychain, with a small photograph of the London Eye in a heart-shaped frame attached.

"It reminded me of the Stargate," she confessed. "It's how we met. Because of the Stargate."

Daniel's eyes felt misty. He cleared his throat.

"It's perfect," he told her gruffly. "Thank you."

There was a pause before –

"I'd better go and unpack," Vala pulled out the handle on her very large suitcase with her good hand.

"Sure, sure, of course."

She gave him a small smile and left, dragging her luggage behind her. Everyone else had already left. Daniel stood alone in Sam's office holding the little silver keyring as if it was the most precious alien artefact that he had ever found.

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**So, London is still standing after Jack and Vala's visit! Hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. More soon!**


	8. Chapter 7 Told You I Knew What It Was

**Chapter Seven. I Told You That I Knew What It Was.**

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The next afternoon Daniel was working in his office when Vala knocked tentatively at the door.

"Do you need any help?" she asked, nervously. The archaeologist's inner self stood up and cheered – he'd been trying to think up an excuse to talk to her.

"Please," he said, trying to act as relaxed as possible. "Could you translate some of this Gou'ald nonsense for me? I'm getting snowed under with it. Especially now there's all of those Asgard hieroglyphics from Monsoon World as well."

The alien nodded and sat at the far end his desk, took a pen and started writing. Her Gou'ald translations were always word perfect. Obviously. It was rather awkward with her plaster cast in the way but she wasn't going to complain. Daniel kept glancing at her surreptitiously from his side of the table. Vala did the same to him every time he looked down at what he was meant to be doing. After about half an hour she stood up.

"Pen's run out," she told him, turning to the shelf behind to get another one from the pencil pot. She stopped. The photo of Sha're which always stood there had been joined by another – in a frame next to it was the picture that Jack had taken of herself on the London Eye. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes prickled for a moment.

"It's me," was all that she could manage to say.

"Of course." Daniel stood, his heart beginning to pound in his chest. Now or never, he was thinking. Now or never. He was about to try and speak when suddenly the flighty alien caught sight of something else on the shelf.

"Oh, that's what it is!" She took down what looked like a round, carved stone ashtray with a small, raised wall running across it's centre. "The thing! Where's the other thing? The thing that I didn't remember?"

"Er .." Daniel shook his head, trying to follow her train of thought. "Do you mean this?" He picked up the small round stone artefact with the blue stone in the centre.

"Yes!" she grabbed it from him and slotted it into place. It fitted snugly over the top of the raised area and lay in perfect symmetry within the shallow basin. "It's a cryptograph! It translates something for you, or it reveals it. Where did you find the other part of it? The bit underneath?"

"In the pyramind, on Monsoon World." Daniel took it from her. "There was a pedestal in the middle, do you remember? It was on top of that. I didn't see it at first, because the pedestal was taller than me. Teal'c found it."

"Well, if you go back there and put it on top, then it'll show you something. You know, like this…" she spread her arms out wide. "Big, it'll be big."

Daniel grinned at her excitement. She was practically bouncing.

"Come on, let's go!" she had his hand in her own and was trying to drag him out of the office. "Come on, quickly!"

"Where? Monsoon World?"

"Yes! Come on!"

* * *

General Landry had huffed and puffed, and Mitchell had pulled a face and used a word that his Grandma wouldn't have liked, but after a brief ten minutes of pleading and promising to be back by evening, SG-1 had been assembled and packed off back through the Stargate to the planet of their dreams. Daniel had the two small stone objects in his jacket pocket.

When he arrived on the other side of the event horizon however, he almost walked straight into Teal'c, who was stood transfixed.

"What…" the archaeologist started to say, then stopped.

It was almost twilight and the sun was setting. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which was an exquisite, clear purple-blue colour, like woodland bluebells. The sun itself was a gorgeous, opaque rose-pink. It's lengthy rays spread across the country side and were joined by thousands upon thousands of tiny, glowing jewelled lights in the undergrowth which sparkled in the growing gloom.

"It's beautiful." Sam turned slowly in a circle. "It's absolutely beautiful."

Cameron was in amongst the bushes – when he came back to them he had something on his hand – a tiny moth, whose wings glowed with a luminous, iridescent light. It was these small creatures who were lighting up the plant life all around them. The insect sat quietly in Cam's hand, unafraid, it's little wings opening and closing gently.

"I'll never call it Monsoon World again," said the colonel, reverently.

Eventually SG-1 managed to drag their eyes away form the beauty surrounding themselves – Mitchell carefully put the moth back amongst it's friends and they slowly moved off down the path towards the temple.

Daniel took hold of Vala's left hand. She looked questioningly at him, the hint of a smile playing around her lips, but she didn't pull away. They went through the town, pausing briefly to chat to some of the friends' that they had made previously and to explain what they were doing. Then they moved on towards the pyramid. The entire time Daniel did not release his hold on Vala's hand. He only let go once they arrived at the monument and entered.

"Okay, Princess – show us how it works," said Cameron, strolling inside. Teal'c waited close to the entrance. Sam had followed the other two and was stood by the column in the centre.

"I need to stand on something," said the alien. Daniel linked his hands together so she could put her foot in to be lifted. The symbolism of her walking all over him was not lost on the archaeologist.

He hefted her up – she weighed next to nothing – and in a moment she had slipped the round stone device, and it's holder, on to the top of the pillar. It nestled into place perfectly and they all heard a small 'click.'

"Now I'll turn it and you'll see," she told them, reaching up and twisting the artefact by one hundred and eighty degrees.

The blue crystal in the centre lifted by about an inch – immediately a network of blue lights appeared above and around them, comprised of lines, and cubes and a few orbs. There was even a large pyramid in the centre.

SG-1 were silent, fascinated. Daniel was turning in circles, his eyes out on stalks.

"See," Vala's triumphant voice broke the silence. "I told you I knew what it was!"

"And what _is_ it exactly?" asked Mitchell.

She screwed up her nose.

"I'm not entirely sure."

"It's here!" burst out Daniel, excitedly. "It's where we are now! Look – that's the pyramid in the centre and that group of cubes over there…"

"It's the town!" interrupted Sam. "It's a map! A map of the area!'

"So what's all this then?" asked Cam, gesticulating vaguely at all of the lines and other lights.

"It's the rest of the complex!" the archaeologist was positively giddy, waving his arms animatedly. "It's not just a pyramid! Don't you see? Vala – you've discovered a whole buried city!"

"Is that good?" she said, hopefully.

Daniel took one look at her. Now or never, he thought to himself. He put his arms around her and swung her delightedly around in a circle, then before she could protest pulled her as close to himself as he could and kissed her passionately for a very long time. When they eventually surfaced he could hear Cameron outside laughing his head off and Sam giggling profusely. Vala could hardly stand upright – her hair was all over the place, her cheeks were flushed pink and her eyes were sparkling.

"It's good then?" she smiled.

"Yes, Vala." Daniel caught her to him again and planted another kiss right on her oh-so-perfect mouth. "It's very good."

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**Don't run away! There's still a little bit more! Epilogue to follow. :-)**


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue.**

Daniel was sat in his office again, late on the following day. He'd only just about calmed down after the excitement of discovering a whole hidden city, all in one go. Even in the space of twenty four hours, the few little exploratory digs that SG-1 had been able to do had shown that the map of lights was absolutely correct. They'd already found a handful of small artefacts – a brooch, some coins and a shed-load of pottery. Dr Jackson felt like rubbing his hands together in glee – this was going to keep him happy for months.

Vala leant against the door frame.

"Can I come in?" she purred, smiling seductively and twirling her hair in her good hand.

Daniel stood, and pulled her to him, and kissed her – mouths, teeth and tongues all clashing. When she started trying to lift his shirt up he knew that he had to stop her. For the moment.

"Wait," he told her. She pouted. "Just a minute."

He touched her cheek lightly and pulled her over to the two photographs – one of her and one of Sha're. Vala went very still beside him.

"I wanted to tell you yesterday." Daniel spoke hesitantly – he was nearly as good at showing his feelings as she was. "Before Monsoon World and the map and everything."

He paused, and lifted the photo of his wife from the shelf.

"I loved her with all of my heart, you know." He stopped again. Vala dropped her eyes and bit her lip. "And I suppose, all this time, that I've been subconsciously looking for another partner just like her."

He touched Sha're's face and put the photo back, picking up the one of his madcap, beautiful alien.

"But that's not what I need anymore," he continued. "What I want – more than anything – is someone who's bright and feisty and funny. Someone who get's it wrong sometimes, and shouts at me – who gets excited and tells stories and wilfully does exactly the opposite of what I want her to do!"

He stroked the face looking back at him from the photo with his thumb and returned that frame too. When he looked back at Vala she was unsuccessfully trying to wipe her nose with the bright pink plaster cast. He pulled her in fiercely against himself.

"What I'm trying to say is – basically I'm just a crusty, grumpy, miserable old archaeologist without you. You drive me to the brink of madness sometimes but you are the bravest, kindest, most loyal and beautiful person that I know, and I absolutely and completely love and adore you."

Vala gazed up at him. Her eyes were sparkling with tears but Daniel thought that her smile was the most perfect thing that he had seen in his entire life.

"I"ve loved you since the Prometheus," was all that she could get out, before he lowered his head and kissed her again, and again and again.

Cameron, who just happened to be sauntering past, grinned and quietly pulled the door shut. The two people inside were completely oblivious to his presence. He wandered on down towards the control room, pausing at Carter's office. She looked up at him, enquiringly.

"I'm off to see Walter," he winked at her. "Time for him to pay up!"

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**The End! Thank you for all of the kind and lovely reviews! I'll be posting another story very soon! **


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